Conventional raked or raking (sometimes referred to as racked or racking) rail panels are difficult to install and often require more than one person. According to some conventional raking rail panels, the pivot point of the rail bracket is not aligned with the pivot point of the balusters. This frustrates angle adjustability for a pre-assembled rail panel because the angle of the brackets and the angle of the rail panel are not simultaneously adjustable. Thus, precise measuring and prepositioning is required to ensure that the installation properly accounts for a slope of the stairway (i.e. rake angle).
Reference is made to FIG. 1A, which illustrates installation of a conventional raking rail panel 10 on a stairway 12. The rail panel 10 includes a top rail 14 and a bottom rail 16 separated by balusters 18. The balusters 18 are collectively pivotable with respect to the top rail 14 and the bottom rail 16. It is important for a professional looking installation that the rail panel appear to be centered within the elevated vertical support post 20a and the descended vertical support post 20b. Thus, the horizontal distance 22 from the elevated vertical support post 20a to an adjacent baluster 18 should equal the horizontal distance 24 from the descended vertical support post 20b to an adjacent baluster 18.
It is also important that the balusters are parallel to the vertical support posts. The geometry that arises when raked top and bottom rails intersect a support post complicates installation because the top and bottom rails are cut with unequal lengths of mountable extension portions as measured from an adjacent baluster. To accurately measure such unequal lengths, it is often necessary to preposition the panel on a set of support blocks 26 and mark the top and bottom rails for cutting. Prepositioning the panel is cumbersome and may even result in damage to the rail panel and also possibly to the vertical support posts.
FIG. 1B shows the raking rail panel in a straight or square configuration with cutting marks that arise when the prepositioned panel is marked. Cutting marks 27, 29 are marked closer to the end baluster 18 on the cut rail panel; cutting marks 23, 25 are marked further away from the end baluster 18 on the cut rail panel. FIG. 1C shows the cut panel 30 in a raked configuration. The panel is cut such that mountable extension lengths 36, 38 of the top and bottom rails 14, 16 are less than mountable extension lengths 32, 34 of the top and bottom rails 14, 16. The extension lengths will be different for railing installations at different rake angles. It can be observed from FIG. 1C that if the top and bottom rails were cut such that the mountable extension lengths 32, 34, 36, 38 were all equal, a gap between the end balusters 18 and the vertical support posts 20a, 20b would need to be filled.
An alternative that avoids prepositioning of a preassembled rail panel requires prepositioning of the top and bottom rails. Once the top and bottom rails are prepositioned, measured, marked, and cut, as described above, the balusters may be installed in a vertical orientation between the top and bottom rails.